


Small Sleeping Spaces

by bethylated_spirits



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Harry Needs a Hug, I love Molly Weasley, Poor Harry, Protective Molly Weasley, Protective Ron Weasley, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend, Ron finds out about Harry's cupboard, That is child abuse, The Cupboard Under The Stairs (Harry Potter), The Dursleys made Harry live in a cupboard for TEN YEARS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 08:16:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20561141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bethylated_spirits/pseuds/bethylated_spirits
Summary: Harry accidentally lets slip to Ron that the Dursleys made him sleep in a cupboard for 10 years.





	Small Sleeping Spaces

“You head on up to Ron’s room and get settled in”, Mrs Weasley said kindly. “Help him with his trunk, Ronald.”

Rolling his eyes good-naturedly at his mother’s fussing, Ron grasped the handle of Harry’s trunk and hefted it up, leaving Harry to carry Hedwig’s cage and his rucksack. Harry followed his friend up the narrow staircase that lead to his bedroom, nearly at the top of the house.

With a small grunt, Ron heaved the trunk over the small step leading into his bedroom, laying it down in the corner. Stepping into the room, Harry set his rucksack on top of his trunk and Hedwig’s cage beside it, feeling a little bad about how cramped the tiny room was with the addition of his bags.

“Sorry it’s so small”, Ron apologised, flushing slightly in embarrassment.

“It’s fine, don’t worry”, Harry assured him. “It’s much better than my cupboard.”

The red-head looked confused and a little offended.

“Of course it’s better than a cupboard!” He exclaimed, frowning. “We’re not that poor!”

‘No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Harry insisted, realising his mistake. “I just meant, I’ve slept in a much smaller space before.”

“Oh.” Ron deflated, moving to sit on his bed. Then a thought occurred to him and he turned back to Harry, his forehead creased in confusion. “Wait, why would you sleep in the cupboard? That’s not some weird Muggle thing, is it?”

Too late, Harry registered that what he had mentioned so casually was probably not a good thing for him to tell Ron about. He had never told his friends much about what his home life had been like before going to Hogwarts. Ron had been outraged on his behalf just from seeing the bars Uncle Vernon had attached to his window in the summer before 2nd year, so he was sure his friend would be horrified to learn about just how badly the Dursleys had treated him when he was a child.

“Oh, um… no. Never mind.” He opened his trunk to look for his pyjamas, hoping that Ron would take the hint to drop the subject.

“Harry…” His friend was staring at him, concern written all over his face. “Why did you sleep in a cupboard?”

“I never said I did”, Harry said quickly.

“It was pretty heavily implied!” Ron retorted. He took a breath, then tried again. “Was it – was it like a dare, or something?”

Harry opened his mouth, intending to just go along with what Ron had asked, then closed it again. He was a terrible liar, and he knew it. And looking at Ron’s face, he could tell that the red-head didn’t really believe that he had slept in the cupboard for a dare – he just hoped that Harry would have an explanation for him that wasn’t as bad as it sounded.

“No”, Harry said quietly. “I – I used to sleep in the cupboard under the stairs.”

Ron’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “You’re joking, right?” he asked in a hushed voice.

Harry shook his head, shame clear in the emerald green eyes he had inherited from his mother.

“The Muggles made you sleep in the cupboard?”

Harry raised one shoulder apathetically, his eyes trained on the floor. There was a reason he hadn’t spoken to any of his friends about this. Until he’d gone to Hogwarts, he had never had any friends to tell, and afterwards he had been so wrapped up in the magical world he was suddenly a part of that he couldn’t bear to think about his upbringing. It was bad enough that he had to go back to that place – he didn’t need his time at Hogwarts to be spent worrying about his horrid relatives, as well. Of course, it turned out that he had a lot of other things to be worrying about; Voldemort, the Chamber of Secrets and it’s basilisk, Dementors and an Azkaban escapee accused (falsely, as he now knew) of committing a mass murder… So no, he had never talked about how the Dursleys had treated him. And based on Ron’s reaction now, he thought that he had made a very good decision about that!

“But – but”, Ron stammered. “But when we went and got you, in second year, you were in a bedroom!”

Harry nodded, conceding the point.

“My first Hogwarts letters that I was sent were addressed to ‘Harry James Potter, The Cupboard Under the Stairs’”, he explained. “My aunt and uncle were worried that whoever was sending the letters knew where I slept, so they let me have Dudley’s second bedroom.”

“That’s your cousin, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And he had TWO bedrooms to himself, that whole time you were sleeping in a cupboard?” Ron's voice had dropped lower; he sounded almost dangerous.

“Well – it’s not like it was a tiny little cupboard, I could fit…” Harry trailed off at the furious look on his friend’s face. “Uh, yeah. But it wasn’t so bad Ron, I was used to it –”

“How long?” Ron cut him off. Harry gazed at the red-head, uncomprehending. “Harry, how long did you have a bloody _cupboard_ as a bedroom?”

Harry blinked, taking a moment to think about it.

“Until I got my first Hogwarts letter”, he said slowly. “So… about 10 years, I guess.”

“10 years”, Ron repeated in that same, dangerous voice. “10 years they made you sleep in a cupboard?”

He strode out of the room angrily. Harry sat, stunned, for a brief moment before coming to his sense and chasing after his friend.

“Ron, wait! Where are you going?”

His friend ignored him, taking the stairs two at a time in his haste to get downstairs.

“Dad”, he called as he reached the ground floor of the house. “Mum! Dad!”

Molly Weasley stepped out from the kitchen, a tea towel in hand and a frown on her face.

“Ron, what are you –” Her eyes widened in alarm as she took in Ron’s furious countenance, Harry hovering behind him with embarrassment and guilt written all over his face. “What’s going on? Why are you shouting, what’s happened?”

Ron stepped towards his mother.

“I need to get to Surrey.”

“To Surrey? Why?”

“Because”, Ron said, breathing heavily, “I’m going to find the Muggles Harry lives with and curse the bloody daylights out of them!”

“Curse – Ronald Weasley, you tell me what’s going on this instant!” Molly demanded, eyes flashing.

“It’s nothing Mrs Weasley, it’s really not a big –”

“Shut up, Harry”, Ron interrupted rudely.

“Ron!” his mother reprimanded him sharply.

Ron looked her directly in the eyes, his hands shaking slightly with how angry he was.

“Mum, Harry’s aunt and uncle made him live in a cupboard for 10 years. That was his _bedroom_.”

Mrs Weasley’s hand flew to her mouth in shock, all the tension draining out of her body as she looked from her youngest son – defiant and brave and so very loyal – to Harry, whose gaze was trained firmly on the floor and who looked as though he wished desperately that he were invisible.

“Oh, _Harry_.” She crossed the short distance between herself and the dark-haired boy in three quick strides, pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m so sorry. You poor thing.”

“It’s fine, Mrs Weasley”, Harry mumbled, shamefaced.

“No, it’s not.” She drew back slightly to look him in the eyes, although she kept her arms wrapped loosely around the teenager. “No child _ever_ deserves to be treated like that. Especially after you’d already lost your parents so young.” Her eyes were glistening, but she held his gaze. “I can’t imagine – if Arthur and I were gone, and somebody treated one of our children like that… I’m so sorry that you had to go through that, Harry. So unbelievably sorry. To tell you the truth, I’m very tempted to join Ron in hexing that horrendous aunt and uncle of yours. I promise you, I will have words with Dumbledore and we will get you out of that house.”

Harry bit his lip, then practically collapsed into Mrs Weasley’s arms, tears pouring from his eyes. Nobody had acknowledged to him before how _wrong_ it was, the way that his aunt and uncle treated him. He’d known, of course, that as a child he shouldn’t be expected to sleep in a cupboard and handle so many of the household chores. But that was the way he’d been brought up. That was how it had been for as long as he could remember, and though he knew it was unfair, he had accepted that this was how it was, for him. To have an adult he trusted tell him that it was unfair, and promise to help him, was overwhelming.

Molly hugged the child close, letting him wet her dress with tears. For so many in the wizarding world, all they saw when they looked at Harry was the Boy Who Lived, their Chosen One, their Saviour. It was too large a burden to place on the narrow shoulders of a boy who had already been through far too much. When Molly looked at him, she saw a child who had suffered more than any child should have to, yet remained brave and steadfast throughout. She saw a teenager who had been treated dreadfully by the family who had raised him, yet still treated others with kindness and compassion. She saw a young man, her son’s best friend, who so far had been failed by the adults in his life. And she made a silent vow to herself that she would not fail him again. Harry Potter was under her protection now.

And Molly Weasley defended those she loved with her life.

**Author's Note:**

> I should be writing more of 'Too Much to Bear', but instead I started writing about 5 different things and haven't finished any of them yet. Ooops. So here's a Harry Potter one-shot, because the fact that an orphan kid was forced to live in a cupboard for 10 years is horrible and I wanted to see how Ron would react to finding out a bit more about how terribly the Dursleys treated his friend.  
I will try to get more of 'TMTB' up within the next couple of weeks for anyone reading that. Sorry about the delay.  
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this!


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